Yeah, this basically sums up 80% of the games that people like to venerate as "complex/complicated/difficult"

Just spam Ability/Move X with one hand and Consumable/Ability/Move Y with the other and you're good to go for everything bu the super extra-hard post-endgame stuff (that requires you to wear item/set Z as well.)

Out of date- you left out the 2 minute idle animation between quick load and quick save, unless you're playing an FPS. Those still generally have very fast load times even on large maps. We must learn their secret!

The problem with doing this is that it's entirely possible to quicksave yourself into a situation that's impossible to get out of.Like an enemy always inevitably killing you, or you failing to bring along the necessary weapons, etc.

IceForce:The problem with doing this is that it's entirely possible to quicksave yourself into a situation that's impossible to get out of.Like an enemy always inevitably killing you, or you failing to bring along the necessary weapons, etc.

IceForce:The problem with doing this is that it's entirely possible to quicksave yourself into a situation that's impossible to get out of.Like an enemy always inevitably killing you, or you failing to bring along the necessary weapons, etc.

But yeah, in games that allow this, I'm guilty of doing it.

I managed to save after I died in one game. Had to start over. Not my proudest moment.

I will readily admit to save scumming in any game with respawning enemies. If the game has the potential to spawn an enemy right behind me without warning then it's fair game.

Aeshi:Yeah, this basically sums up 80% of the games that people like to venerate as "complex/complicated/difficult"

Just spam Ability/Move X with one hand and Consumable/Ability/Move Y with the other and you're good to go for everything bu the super extra-hard post-endgame stuff (that requires you to wear item/set Z as well.)

I don't think that it's about consumables, so much as save-scrubbing. Notice Grey is spamming F5-F9, the PC button Holy Grail for quicksave-quickload. I've been guilty of this as well, but often when playing games with checkpoints (that utilize them well) I am actually thankful they force me to restart the entire area over on death.

Hard modes are a lot more meaningful when you know beating it required complete and perfect execution the entire way through. The best part is beating a PC game on hardest and then play the same game with/for a friend on console. You're sure to get jokes about being a lazy manchild with too much free time, but it's very interesting to me personally to see how many people play or beat games without ever bothering to learn core mechanics.

Fun Fact: everybody's favorite hide-behind-a-chest-high-wall game Gears of War can be beaten on Easy without EVER learning how to snap to cover.

amaranth_dru:U know there will be PC Gamers who are so indoctrinated to this that the joke will just sail over their heads...

I'm more expecting a console gamer unused to the joys of quicksave-scumming (in particular the keys typically involved) to not get the joke.

This. I don't think many non-PC gamers would get this joke at all.I love the bit about modding them to make them harder though, I remember modding the hell out of Oblivion and Skyrim to make them nightmarish, and it was fantastic, lol.

In all seriousness, I've never found save-scumming in difficult FPS's to be all that effective. For games like Serious Sam (just an example) I always found it was best to save before a big fight and then not bother with saving again until the last enemy was dead. Trying to mash Quicksave in the middle of a fight is a sure way to find yourself in an unwinnable situation. Better to just die and start over at a point before the action picks up so you can take a breather and re-assess what you did wrong.

The same goes for real-time/turn-based strategy games. Even if you save before every turn, it's usually not a mistake made in the previous or current turn that makes you lose; it's some bad play you made several turns back that snowballed into an unwinnable scenario. The RNG aspect of the older XCOM-type games maybe makes it not feel that way, but if you're in a situation in that type of game where your only option is to quickload until the enemy just happens to miss where the first 20 times he exploded your trooper, the fault lies in your approach and tactics, NOT in the luck of the draw.

Or maybe I just put too much thought into these sort of things... *shrugs*

marurder:When did saving become 'save scumming' and when did it get thrown around the same way 'gamers' use the words 'casual players'.

Gamers are just trying to divide themselves further to feel superior.

It is generally accepted that "hard" PC games that include a quicksave function will be prone to people beating the game by quicksaving incessantly whenever they've accomplished any thing (such as killing an enemy, completing a mission or walking three steps forward) and thus slowly "save creeping" through the game until they complete it.

The comic is a satire on PC elitism and a very striking one at that. I can't think of any PC gamer (myself included) I know that doesn't do this.

Oh! The first comic I got right off! The good ol' quick save/reload buttons... *sigh*

Honestly, I always forgot to use them as they were too far away for me to comfortably reach with my small hands resting on WASD keys. That and after playing modded Elder Scrolls games I've come to disable those features entirely in case something gets corrupted.

Still, they have a point: PC gamers do have a somewhat easier way out of things at times and mods can lower the difficulty, or add cheats, so saying PC games are harder is a bit folly. Which, y'know, is the point.

marurder:When did saving become 'save scumming' and when did it get thrown around the same way 'gamers' use the words 'casual players'.

Gamers are just trying to divide themselves further to feel superior.

Nah. "Save Scumming" refers to the practice of specifically saving too much. It's used to help you navigate levels by luck/repetition rather than skill or proper observation. The term has been around since the days of the original XCOM.

The comic is a satire on PC elitism and a very striking one at that. I can't think of any PC gamer (myself included) I know that doesn't do this.

I don't. :D

In fact, I use quicksave/loads so little that I would frequently forget they even existed in Skyrim, which multiple times led me to losing about two or three hours worth of exploring because the game had a balls autosave system.

You guys forgot the part where she macros a series of complex commands that are executed faster than a human could possibly do to a single keypress. Oh, and then tells anyone who says it's hard to do that series of commands to "L2P".